The Revolution, the Labour Regime and Conditions of Work in the Cotton Textile Industry in Mexico, 1910-1927

Bibliographic Data

ID3734239
AuthorsJeffrey Bortz (Appalachian State University, corresponding author)
Year2000
Volume32
Issue3
Pages671-703
Publication date2000-10-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Latin American Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0022-216X • E-ISSN: 1469-767X
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0022216x00005915
OpenAlexW2103059297
LanguageEN
Citations received4

From 1910 to 1927 workers in the Mexican cotton textile industry took advantage of the larger surrounding revolution to create a revolution of their own. Based on a significant and persistent challenge to workplace authority, millhands radically transformed the labour regime in Mexican industry. Although owners combated the workers' rebellion, they never inflicted a decisive defeat. As a consequence, the conditions of work in Mexican mills improved dramatically. Among the advancements workers fought for, and obtained, were a sharp reduction in the working day from fourteen hours to eight, mandated medical care for work-related accidents and illnesses and union control of hiring and firing. The latter included the union shop and a system of tripartite boards that made it virtually impossible to fire workers who enjoyed union support. The new labour regime reflected changes in the formal and informal institutions of work, but its final institutionalisation empowered unions more than the rank and file workers who fought to change the social relations of work

Business · Economics · Industrial Revolution · Institutionalisation · Labour economics · Political economy · Political science · Textile industry · Work (physics) · Engineering · Global trade, sustainability, and social impact · International Labor and Employment Law · Law · Politics and Society in Latin America